According to Inciweb: “The Rhea Fire started on Thursday April 12, 2018. It is located in Dewey County, northeast of Leedey Oklahoma. With Red Flag fire weather conditions the Rhea Fire quickly grew to the now 242,000 acres. Oklahoma Forestry Services is in unified command with Vici Rural Fire Department. A Southern Type 1 team from Florida is in route.”
The fire is only 3% contained and has been spurred on by the local weather which has been dry with high winds. Even the storms that swept through the area during the weekend did not diminish the fires and served to spread them due to high winds. Spread is likely to be to the south and east due to sustained strong winds in the area predicted to be 15-20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Several hundred fire personnel are currently battling this fire.
NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite collected this natural-color image using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on April 13, 2018, just one day after the fire began. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner with information from Inciweb.
Suomi NPP is managed by NASA and NOAA.